Empowering Women Leaders: Insights from the Women's Leadership Conference
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This is a Kun V studios original program. The following is a paid program sponsored by Crawford management group and smart time consultants. Please be advised that the voices and opinions you hear do not represent the views of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. You
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music. Hi. My name is Leah Crawford,
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and I'm Rhonda Nolan, and you're listening to the let's talk with Leah and Rhonda show for all the beautiful entrepreneurs out there.
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This is for you. Good morning, Las Vegas, All right, y'all, school started. Yes, school started. Oh my god, and it's traffic in the morning.
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I know it's traffic, and I
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love, I mean, happy, happy school year. Start a school year to all the CCSD teachers, administration, parents, you know, let's
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have an amazing, amazing school year. Nasir, we are in the eighth grade. Woo, woo. Eighth grade.
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And today, y'all, guess what? I have a special co host, Miss capu scene homes, hey cat, hi, hi
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everybody.
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You know, good, good to be here with you. Good to be here with you. Rhonda, we miss you. Yes, hopefully
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she'll be back soon. Well, today y'all, we have a very special guest in the studio. I want to jump right in. Last year this time, we talked about the Women's Leadership Conference, and we brought Phyllis James on. It was an amazing interview. And guess what? The leadership conference is coming up again. Yes, yes. And I wanted it was the most impactful, two of the most impactful days of my life last year, just to be in and around the amazing energy at the MGM. It was, it was awesome, just meeting the people, being in the green room, hearing the crowds, hearing the speeches, just the inspiration around this conference, and
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young women were in the room. All the women were in the room. They were in the room. Women were
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in the room a time for us to really pour into us. So first thing I want to say, welcome Phyllis, hi, hi.
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Well, good morning. Thank you so much for having me.
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Thank you for accepting our invitation to return. First, I want to tell you thank you. Thank you for allowing us to come and be a part of the conference last year. It was amazing. It was and I know the feedback was amazing, but this year, but let's talk first, what's going on this year? I know you're coming up on September 4 and fifth. Correct, yes,
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at the MGM Grand conference center third floor. So
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same place. Y'all Same place, same place. This is annually. Correct,
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yes,
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tell me. Why annually. Why do you want to do this conference annually?
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I think it is really important for there to be a continuous forum and stream of education for women leaders in today's times, especially post covid, many companies and organizations have really cut back or eliminated leadership education for people in their companies, not just for women, but for every employee and so for that has a detrimental impact on women, especially because traditionally, there has been such a deficit in education for women leaders. So if you if places are cutting back, just imagine what that does for the stream of education for women leaders. And so I think it's important for there to be some place that women can go to to still receive that kind of emphasis on leadership, education, skills,
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leadership education, I love it because I believe that you can be taught to be a leader. Well,
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yes, but first you have to aspire to be a leader, okay? And because, in the first place, basically, leadership is a choice, and a lot of women don't aspire to that because they don't understand that leaders aren't born. Leaders. Are made leaders are educated, and so that's the first point, and I think that so many women aren't nurtured to understand that they, too can be leaders. There's there's no destiny for men, and men are destined, and we aren't. Women can become leaders, and the key is education.
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The key is education so they can be taught leaders. Yes, but first having the desire yes and then be willing to do the work, yes.
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So one of the reasons why I think this conference is so important is that we focus on what I call the three essential ingredients to becoming an effective leader. The first is inspiration and motivation, and we present accomplished women role models who come from diverse backgrounds, and they weren't born leaders, they're made leaders. And so being able to see women who have accomplished so much when they started out in life having so little is monumental for women in our audience. The second thing is learning, leadership, education, knowledge and skills, and we provide a broad array of education sessions that emphasize different aspects of leadership skills, and again, leadership can be taught, and that's what we do. The third thing that we provide is the opportunity for women to build relationships and networks. There's probably few other places that women can go where you can spend two full days being surrounded by fellow aspiring women leaders and accomplished women leaders, where you get to meet them, greet them, talk to them, establish communications with, establish collaborations with and so we provide that opportunity for women to build these kinds of networks. And you never know in life where a relationship or an opportunity can lead you. So it is so important to establish and build those networks.
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Drop the mic. Y'all, I know drop the mic because she said some Well, you said three amazing things, three amazing Yes, she did, inspiration and motivation, learning leadership. And I believe a lot of us don't understand you learn leadership. Yes, you learn leadership and community. Well, the opportunity to build networks, because your network is your net worth, and
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it's it's very important to build those relationships and make them authentic.
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Authentic. Yeah, they need to be authentic. Well, let me tell you about my experience after the conference. I want to tell you thank you, because you don't know, after the Leadership Conference, I joined a cohort with Korn Ferry through Napa, and you're right, it's taught, and I was on there with a bunch of aspiring leaders, all of us doing the work. And from that, I enrolled in a PhD program, whoa, on leadership and development. Yes, she did. I am in my fifth course tonight. I'm writing papers, more writing than I've ever done in my life. I'm becoming better at it. But I want to tell you thank you because that conference and you saying that it can be taught, I was willing to do the work to learn. So I want to tell you thank you and give you your flowers while you're still living and I can't wait till I graduate, because until you can sit there with me like, Okay, we did it. We got a dissertation and a p.
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HD, well, I want to say congratulations to you for accepting that inspiration and empowerment and acting on it. And that brings me to the theme of this year's conference. Okay, let's go which is ours to own. And that's a very powerful theme, tears in my eyes on several different levels, and one, it's a testament, it's an acknowledgement of how far women have come in terms of the quest for gender equality. But it is more than that. It's a challenge to women to empower themselves, to become better leaders, to understand, first off, the power of leadership. And a lot of people will say, Well, why is it important for women to aspire to be leaders? Well, last time I looked around the state of our communities in the state of our world, I would say we are in dire need of more capable leadership, and women are a vital part of that equation. Humanity will not become better unless every individual achieves whatever potential they have to become better and to put themselves in a position to better themselves, better their families and better their communities. And so for women, it is important because leadership will put you in good stead. It will help you demolish those stereotypes about women and what their capabilities are. I think that so the example of so many accomplished women shows that what women are capable of if they just get opportunities for leadership, education and for a break, also, Once you develop capabilities that allow you to show your internal excellence. Opportunities will come your way, but it also puts you in a position to make your own opportunities, and that's part of what ours to own means most people don't have opportunities fall into their laps. No, they don't. Most people have to position themselves to be able to compete for opportunities and so developing yourself so that you are in a position to capitalize on opportunities that may come your way is essential.
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I love it. You wanna? We not ready? Y'all not ready? Yeah, ready. I think that people are. You think they ready, I
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think, and they're ready for this conference. They're ready for this conference is coming. This conference
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is coming, and you get a chance to pour into you, you. You get a chance to pour into you, pour into you.
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And then the great
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part, no kids, no husband, no people. This is all about you.
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It. It empowers you to be better, yes, and then be better for the community in which you serve. And leadership is leadership in our jobs, in our homes, in our community and people that we love. It is time for us, women to come together
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and make it happen. We got some more for it, because she, she not done yet. Yo, I know. I know, right? And if I know you driving, what I can say is, if you want to listen to this show again, the podcast will be up immediately following the show on Apple podcast so that you can listen to this again. Listen to what this woman is saying you. She is pouring into you on the radio, on the radio. So all you got to do is listen instead of, you know, listen to it. Be inspired, get it done. What can we look forward to this year?
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Well, every year, we work to bring a very dynamic and full, enriching program. And. This year is no exception. So two of the things I'm most proud of this year is we're going to have two different sets of inspirational women. One will be a round table of women, CEOs and presidents women who are at the top of their companies. And so we're going to have a woman who is president of MGM National Harbor in the gaming and hospitality industry. Melanie Johnson, we're going to have a woman who is the president of Dole Foods International USA. And so everybody knows Dole Foods, because I'm sure everybody has some Dole Foods product either in their pantry or their refrigerator. We're also going to have a woman president who founded her own company 20 years ago in the IT industry, and she provides sourcing for it. Manpower, nice, yes, okay, and our fourth woman president is a CEO of a network of health clinics in the bay area associated with the Sutter Health Group. Now health care is vital to every community, and so to have ascended to that level, and she is a relatively young woman. She's a millennial, and she is heading up, I think it's over 13 clinics that provide health care services for 1000s of people every year. So to talk to this dynamic set of women is going to be very, very interesting. But we also have yet a different set of dynamic women, and that is our women, WBEs women, business enterprises, or entrepreneurs on the rise. Nice, yes, and so these are women who are running their own businesses. And they're their own bosses, so to speak. And one of them is Christine medella. She is the co founder of Storyville road. It is a company that provides video and I guess you could say media services for businesses. I think she, her company, is the only woman owned company that is doing this kind of work for the NFL. So that is very impressive. We also have Lonnie Romero, who is the co founder of mothership Coffee Roasters. There are now five or six motherships around the Las Vegas Valley, so we're very happy to have her. We also have another woman who's taken a different path. She is the she took over an established family business that is a metals recycling company, very unusual for a woman to be in, and she decided to take up the mantle. She left a position in a fortune 500 company as an executive, and decided to take over this company, and she is now building it into a sustainability powerhouse.
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Wow, I love it. So you have the people that aspire to go to the C suite side, those leaders, but you also have the entrepreneurs. Yes, so two different two different paths, two different lives in life, and they are all leaders. They are
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that's an amazing way to. Look at that yes, because they are leaders in their own right, right. Love it, love it, and we have not to be left out one other very powerful women business owner. Her name is Alicia Taylor,
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18. Okay, so Alicia Taylor is a I'm a fan. I'm a fan, and I know her story. Alicia is Alicia Taylor,
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20 years ago, founded a mortgage lending company. Now she's not just a real estate broker who sells homes. She is what I call the money person in the mortgage transaction. She puts together financing for clients to be able to purchase real estate,
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and she has a whole bunch of other Okay, so I'm what I will say is, when she's on, can I be in the room with her when she's on the stage? Can I ask her some questions? Only because I Well, we personally know Alicia. We personally know Alicia, and Alicia has been on the show with us. Okay, not maybe once or twice, and she's phenomenal. And she's not only is she phenomenal, she just drops nuggets, just as you she she drops them, and she drops them in a way where people connect, yes, with her. And she has multiple ventures going on, because it's a guard company. Yes, the guard line is something that's going on. I think there's some other things coming up that are in the works. Alicia is doing a lot of different things, but she's an amazing woman, and she's a mother and she's a wife, right? All those things. But
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I think the thing that is so important is to show that each one of the women on these respective panels are doing fabulous things, and they are all self made, yes, but there's one more. Oh, I gotta bring to you. Come on, and that is a woman who is now one of the leading women in the artificial intelligence field. AI, she is an investor. She is a founder of AI companies, and she is a podcaster. I love it, and so we're going to have a special fireside chat with her. So there's going to be no end to inspiration and inspirational women at our conference, and that is such an important dimension, because they all show in their own ways, that you can become what you seek to become, if you are willing to put in the work and invest in yourself
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again. I'm sorry. She got something to say. No, I'm
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just, I think I'm Brett,
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i and i don't normally get out. I normally don't have, I normally got a whole bunch to say. It's nothing you can say after that. It's
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because it is inspiring. And being in the same room with Phyllis James and the woman's Leadership Conference was coming up on September 4. The website, but let's
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get a website, a www, dot F, W, l, e.org, and that is Frank woman leadership experience, or feminine women leadership experience, F, W, l, e.org, on
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September, 4 and fifth, at m2, days. All of that, two days.
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So I want to also point attention to another added, beneficial option that we're making available this year. We're introducing this year our continuing leadership education program. And through that, this is a program that has been accredited by UNLV. So through this option, you can attend life or virtual courses that you take during the two days of the conference. Conference, but if you also review recorded sessions of the programs that you could not attend at the conference, we'll make those available online. And if you also look at recorded sessions of our leadership webinar aspiring women, if you do all of that and achieve 15 hours of instruction, you can receive a certificate of completion from F, W, L, E and accredited CEUs
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continuing education units, continuing
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education units, so that is yet a new dimension of what we're offering this year that we've never been in a position to offer before. And I'm so excited about that, because if you have a certificate of completion of a leadership program like this that can bring you powerful benefits. First off, it a certificate like this is a demonstration to employers, current employers or prospective employers, that you are a person who is vested in self development and leadership growth, and that is very important for setting up your reputation as a serious leader. Also it can do wonders for your self confidence, because it shows you have accomplished a goal that you set out for yourself. And I think that's very important. Well, Phyllis, this
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brings us to the end of the show. I had more questions. Again, I had more questions. You know, I know I had more questions, but we're at the end of the show, and there are other little things that are going to happen during this two days. The website is www dot F, W, l, e.org, feminine women leadership experience.org. F, W L E, if you want to hear this show again, if you want to hear this show again, the podcast is up. I'm say the website one more time, because you could be driving and I want you to work with me. Www, dot F, W L e.org, that's F as in feminine, w as in women, L as in leadership, E as in experience.org. You want to invest in you. Invest in you. Phyllis, as always, because this is the end of our show. Thank you as well. Thank you for having me. And I know we still got more to talk about. We still we do, because we didn't mention the two headshots that you're going you get headshots. You get food, breakfast and lunch.
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I face to face network,
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and you get to touch people that you hear about. And it's some powerful people, and they will be sitting in the room. They will be sitting in the room up close and personal and personal, all right? Well, that brings me to in the show cap. Thank you for coming with me today. I appreciate you. Until next time. Las Vegas, peace and blessings is not hot, so I can't tell you to stay cool, but have fun and um, guess what? Y'all we working out. So we're gonna start walking every morning. Y'all walking every morning. I'll talk to you about the results next week, peace and Blessings Las Vegas, have an amazing Saturday. Bye. Thank you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai